Too Loud a Solitude: A Prague Reading and Travel Guide
Let’s journey with Haňťa, an alcoholic book lover who struggles at work, love, and life. Haňťa is anyone who has been dismissed or ignored at work. He is someone who deals with addiction. He is a flawed person who feels invisible and small.
During the Reading Europe Challenge, we are Reading Prague in August. Join us from your bedroom, train, or plane ride as we build our personal libraries and reading prowess by reading around the world.
We have started with this beloved Czech classic from Bohumil Hrabal: Too Loud A Solitude, which you can also find on the Core Shelf: 50 Novels Every Personal Library Deserves.
The Story
Haňťa is the average disgruntled employee who has worked in a dump for 35 years, counting down to retirement. The exception is that his job has been to destroy books and he hates himself for that. His boss also dislikes Haňťa because he is a slow worker who takes his time reading and memorizing books before destroying them.
“Because when I read, I don’t really read; I pop a beautiful sentence into my mouth and suck it like a fruit drop, or I sip it like a liqueur until the thought dissolves in me like alcohol.”
Every evening Haňťa tries to save the rare books, the great books, and as a result, books threaten to take over his small apartment in Prague.
He starts to examine his life, to examine the controlling systems around him, the system that makes others give in to banning intellectualism. Conversely, he starts to scrutinize those moments where he finds himself giving in to books, where he has “forgotten compassion and love.”
About the Novella
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, this novella is part philosophical and witty. It illuminates the complexities of the human mind when faced with hopelessness and poverty.
It also depicts a changing political and economic climate. When first published in 1976, it was only circulated underground, due to censorship and the political climate.
At approximately 112 pages, Too Loud A Solitude is a short read.
About the Author
Bohumil Hrabal was a poet, novelist, and essayist considered one of the most important Czech writers of the 20th century.
He started with poetry, and then wrote stories about marginalized workers and nonconformists. Most of Hrabal’s works were banned until his country became independent after the Velvet Revolution, when Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic.
An avid reader, some of his inspirations were Arthur Schopenhauer, Roland Barthes, and Giuseppe Ungaretti.
How to Visit Haňťa’s Prague
- Spend an afternoon in Old Town Prague. Prague is a capital city that has literature carved into the cobblestone streets of the Old Town, where Haňťa walks. Old Town is the historic hub of Prague, surrounded by medieval streets.
- Tour New Town. New Town is one of the Prague’s oldest districts. Charles Square—one of the largest squares in the world and a transport hub—is where Haňťa crosses “luxuriant periwinkle patches” to watch the New Town Tower at night.
- Bar Hop. Beer in the Czech Republic dates back to a millennium. The country is said to have the highest beer consumption per capita and Prague is where the first beer experiences began. Prague is known for its old breweries and craft beers. Bar hop with Haňťa to specialty bars he mentions, like Paradise Lost, for example.
- Walk by the Statute of Saint Wenceslas, in Wenceslas Square, one of the main city squares in New Town.
- Read in The Kinský Garden. A beautiful public garden, it also hosts a summer palace and an orthodox church.
A Guide for Your Reading Group Discussion
- Why do you think Bohumil Hrabal leans on metaphorical language to explore Haňťa’s innermost feelings? What could he be saying about how we examine our interiority and how we examine place?
- As you read about Prague’s landscape and the “university men” that Haňťa speaks about, in what ways do you start to understand Prague and the political climate before the formulation of the Czech Republic? Would you like to visit one of the places Haňťa mentions; if so, which one?
- The story of Manca adds humor to the narrative, and yet it is also laced with regret. Why do you think Haňťa remembers Manca with regret? Why compare her life to his?
- Haňťa later reveals that he loves Seneca’s On the Tranquility of the Mind. What layer unfolds with the mention of this book, and why do you think the eerie vision that Haňťa has of Seneca is mentioned at that moment?
- Haňťa mentions his dream vacation to Greece, where he’d planned to make a pilgrimage to Stagira, the birthplace of Aristotle. Where would you plan your dream vacation, and why there?
Books to Purchase for the Reading Europe Challenge in August—We’re Reading Prague in August:
- Too Loud A Solitude, by Bohumil Hrabal
- Love and Garbage, by Ivan Klima
- Letters to Milena, by Franz Kafka
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera
P.S. Browse the Books By Continent page to find great reads that spark your interest. Purchasing from the Reading Around the World Shop helps create more content for readers and supports independent bookstores.
